Woodhouse name Phillips Building

Woodhouse College honoured our retiring Chair of Governors Ian Phillips this week by naming one of our buildings after him.

The Phillips Building was built in 2015 and is a dedicated maths centre of excellence. Over 800 students study A level mathematics and further mathematics there each year.

The naming ceremony, which took place on the 4th of July, was attended by many local dignitaries including Madam Deputy Mayor of Barnet Caroline Stock and fellow councillors from the Woodhouse Ward, Anne Hutton and Geof Cooke. Also present were the Chair of Governors from partner schools the Archer Academy, Friern Barnet School and the Totteridge Academy.
The event was also attended by Ian’s brother and son (both Woodhouse Alumni), his wife Elaine, his mother and other friends, staff and fellow governors.

At the ceremony, Ian unveiled the brass plaque on the Phillips building which reads…

“An outstanding chair who led the college successfully through a challenging time, maintaining our record of academic excellence on a sound business footing, Ian was also a national leader of governance and a member of the national council of the Sixth Form Colleges Association.
Three generations of the Phillips family have been actively associated with Woodhouse as parents, governors and students, and the college owes Ian and his family a great debt.”

Woodhouse Principal John Rubinstein gave further insight into Ian's history at Woodhouse during his speech..

“Ian Phillips joined the Woodhouse Sixth Form College board of governors as a parent governor in 2002 and he became Chair of Woodhouse College board in 2006. He is now finally retiring. During his time as chair, he has transformed the College and its board, modernising both in a clear-sighted and ceaseless drive for improvement on all fronts.

Ian is tireless, infectiously enthusiastic, and wields his sharp intellect to great purpose and effect. He is an excellent Chair, good-humoured and inclusive, and he leads by example, with demonstrable commitment to College. He has personally taken control of recruitment and succession planning for the Board, and is always very challenging to the leaders and managers of the College, but in a positive and constructive manner.

Throughout his 12 years as chair, the College has been officially outstanding in quality (as recognised by Ofsted) and posted accounts that have been classified as ‘outstanding financial status’, despite constant and challenging cuts in funding (approx. 25% less per student in real terms now than ten years ago).

The College has grown under Ian’s leadership from 980 students in 2006-07 to 1450 this year – Ian believed strongly in extending the ‘Woodhouse experience’ to more students, particularly those from less advantaged backgrounds. The College is now an engine of social mobility – half its students come from families where no one has been to university: 95% of Woodhouse students go to university, with over 50% to Russell Group universities; this year there have been 19 offers to Oxbridge and 36 to study medicine.

Recently, as Woodhouse chair, he has steered the college successfully through the area review process and negotiated a new partner school arrangement with the Archer Academy, which is of huge mutual benefit to both college and school. He steered the building of a new maths block (a £2m spend) in 2014, and he oversaw a bid to the Football Foundation for a new 3G pitch with £150k from the Football Foundation, match-funded by the college.

Ian served four years as a member of the Sixth Form College Association (SFCA) national council. In his capacity as London rep, he convened network meetings of London SFC chairs for sharing issues and supporting each other, the first time that had ever happened, and also the first ever joint principals and chairs meeting.

He qualified as a National Leader of Governance (NLG) about four years ago and in that capacity has delivered a number talks to other governing bodies, and mentored several chairs.

Ian has shown massive dedication and given freely of huge amounts of his time as a governor at the College and, more recently at the school too. He has provided both support and challenge to school and college leaders in equal measure, and his vision has mapped out a clear direction of travel for both institutions. He is an exceptional person who has given exceptional public service.”

It’s been a busy week for Ian as he was also presented with the Sixth Form Colleges Association award for Outstanding Governance at the recent SFCA annual conference in Nottingham.

Ian spoke with his usual eloquence at the unveiling, talking with great affection of his many connections with the college.

He said "It's a tremendous honour to have a new building named after me. Serving Woodhouse as its Chair for 12 years has been a great privilege and to have it recognised this way is deeply gratifying."